Editorial Commentary

Happy Tax Day

Looking ahead to Tax Freedom Day

A RASHLY IDEALISTIC MAN ONCE SAID that "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." The Internal Revenue Service liked that line so much that it carved the words onto its headquarters in Washington, where the words shame resentful taxpayers to this day. The price is a good deal higher than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. could have imagined, and the society has become much less civilized than it was in 1904, when he made his remark.

Tax Day falls with two days' grace this year, on Tuesday, April 17:...